


We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Story

by ladyroxanne21



Series: Punish Me [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Grief, I swear, M/M, Mourning, but it has a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 14:13:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9275651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyroxanne21/pseuds/ladyroxanne21
Summary: This is an AU of this series, Punish Me. In this story, Harry married Jeremiah and never returned to England to have Lily go to Hogwarts. Thus, Draco knows nothing about his daughter until something happens to thrust them together rather abruptly.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Just so you know, neither of the songs I use in this story were written by me.   
> I suggest looking up Charlotte Church's The Prayer and Queen's Don't Stop Me Now and listening to them if you've never heard them before - at the point of the story in which they show up :-D

It was a rare quiet night. Lily – who had turned thirteen only three months ago – was actually home for a month between performances. She was one of the stars of the ever popular Cirque du Soleil. This meant that she – and thus her fathers – traveled around a lot as the show toured the country.

At this very moment, she was sitting in a comfortable overstuffed armchair working on some homeschool work she had. It was rather boring to her actually as it was simply reading a book on magical theory that her father insisted – well actually, her Aunt Hermione, who lived in Britain – insisted that she _had_ to know if she was going to continue learning magic without attending a proper school. Lily honestly didn't care about learning magic, but since she was unquestionably talented at it, she suffered through the lessons.

Meanwhile, her dads were cuddled up on a loveseat reading through a magazine. Harry had a hand in Jeremiah's hair, playing with it absently. Jeremiah paused his reading every minute or so to press kisses to Harry's shoulder and neck. All in all, it was a typical night for their family when they weren't traveling around the country with Cirque du Soleil.

“Our fifth anniversary is coming up,” Jeremiah murmured, needlessly pointing out the fact that it had been almost five years since the two of them had finally admitted that they loved one another and got married. It had been on September 1st because Harry felt that date to be important to him for a few reasons, and it just felt like the perfect day to make his vows to his husband and start on their new life together.

“I remember,” Harry replied with an amused smirk, kissing his husband on the top of his head.

“I think we should go on vacation to the Bahamas or some other place where the ocean is that startlingly vivid shade of clear blue,” Jeremiah added the suggestion as if he was suggesting that they go out to a restaurant for lunch tomorrow.

“Don't we travel enough?” Harry asked, still very much amused.

“Yeah, from one crowded city to another,” Jeremiah admitted with a shrug. “I'm suggesting someplace where we can go snorkeling as a family and maybe dive for pearls.”

“That actually sounds fun,” Harry stated with a smile, kissing his husband again.

“Yeah it does!” Lily agreed enthusiastically.

“You once told me that there's a plant that allows you to breathe underwater for an hour,” Jeremiah reminded him. “I say we get our hands on enough of that plant for the three of us to explore the Bimini Road in its entirety.”

“That actually sounds like it could be fun,” Harry said in a tone that suggested he hadn't thought of that before and was impressed that Jeremiah had.

“Yes!” Lily hissed happily. “I can't wait!”

Harry smiled at her for a moment before his eyes went wide in alarm and he half pushed Jeremiah off him as he sat up at attention. Before either of his loved ones could ask what was wrong, Harry grabbed his wand from the side table next to the loveseat and pointed it toward the patio door off to their left – which was actually in a different room and they couldn't see it from where they were sitting.

He inhaled sharply and turned his wand on Lily. “Petrificus Totalis!” The moment she seized up straight as a board – her eyes now permanently wide in alarm – she fell to the floor. Harry rapidly pulled his invisibility cloak out of a pouch he always wore around his neck – mainly so he'd have a place to stash his wand when he was out in muggle public. The next instant, he threw the cloak over Lily in a practiced manner that ensured she was completely covered and unable to be seen as she lay on the floor, unable to move or stop staring up toward the ceiling. The only movement she had was just the tiniest bit of eye movement, which allowed her to look at her father.

“Harry!” Jeremiah hissed urgently. “What's wrong?”

But Harry simply shook his head since he no longer had time to explain anything. Seven men burst into the room, quickly surrounding Harry and Jeremiah. They all pointed their wands at Harry.

“How did you break through my wards?” Harry asked, knowing that they probably wouldn't tell him.

As he thought, none of the intruders made a sound – aside from a scoff from the man that looked to be the leader. This was followed by: “Now!”

The men all hurled spell after spell at Harry, trying their best to incapacitate him. Jeremiah wasn't really sure why these men were after his husband, but it was obvious – even to someone who  _hadn't_ been told a little about wizards and magic, like Jeremiah had when he asked Harry to marry him – that there was a magical battle going on. Harry had always insisted that Jeremiah wear highly protective jewelry, but had never really explained why. 

_I suppose this might be why..._ Jeremiah thought with a vague sense of acceptance. He also got to his knees on the floor and formed a sort of defensive bridge over the spot he knew Lily was. With his hands protecting his head and his jewelry forming a series of shields around him, he looked a bit like a large dog that was too stupid to realize that actually laying down might be a better idea. He prayed that none of their attackers realized that he was crouching rather than laying – or crawling away – because he wanted to make sure that none of them could find or get to Lily.

“I love you Lily Bug,” Jeremiah whispered so softly that he wasn't entirely sure that she could hear him, but he wanted to try to comfort her while not giving away the fact that she was there.

“Avada Kedavra!” A voice shouted harshly, which was the last thing he ever heard. The spell flowed through his shields as if they weren't even there, and he immediately went limp and slumped in a position that would be awkward if he was still alive to care about such things.

“Jeremiah!” Harry screamed out in extreme anguish. He was also concerned about Lily, but since the spell had clearly hit his husband, he had hope that she hadn't been affected by it.

His very real but also very unfortunate distress over the death of his husband was the advantage that the attackers needed in order to break through Harry's shields and knock him unconscious before incarcerating him and floating him out of the house.

“What about the girl?” One of the men asked.

“She's obviously not here – unless she's sleeps like the dead – otherwise she would have come running once she heard the commotion,” the leader stated in his very British accent. “Unless she was taught to run away in the event that something like this ever happened, in which case, I repeat: she isn't here. Let's just take him and go before his muggle neighbors come to investigate what must have sounded like a series of crashes or explosions.”

“Sure thing boss!” His minions all cried out in agreement. 

It was slightly hard for Lily to keep track of everything that had happened because it felt a little like her brain had been frozen along with her body, but the next thing she knew, she was all alone. The only thing she could do – aside from move her eyes just a little back and forth – was cry. Which turned out to be a good thing as it prevented her eyes from drying out.

Time passed. Lily cried on and off. Then she faded in and out of consciousness. This was followed by crying a little more, and also wondering offhand how she was going to stop herself from starving to death. And what if no one ever found her? Even if someone came to their house and discovered Jeremiah dead, it would take sheer dumb luck to find her under the invisibility cloak.

Just when everything seemed hopeless and she was ready to surrender to a hopefully permanent sleep, the fire flared to life and turned a weird shade of green.

“Harry, I thought you were going to meet us at the Portkey – Harry?” Hermione looked around in confusion until she saw Jeremiah slumped over in a way that was very awkward looking and had his arse in the air. “Er... are you in the middle of something kinky?”

When this elicited absolutely no response, she tried again. “Jeremiah? Hey!  _Jeremiah_ !”

Lily couldn't quite see her aunt, but she could hear the growing alarm in her voice. “I think something's wrong! Harry! You had better not have changed your wards to keep us out because I am coming through whether you like it or not!”

There was a sound that was a bit like the soft roar of a bonfire. A moment later, there was a second soft roar.

“What happened?” Ron wondered.

Hermione gasped. “Ron! I think Jeremiah's dead!” She was already kneeling next to him and trying to wake him up.

“What?!” Ron burst out in concern. “Where's Harry?!”

“Harry!” Hermione called out even though she was fairly certain that if Harry was home, he would already be trying to wake Jeremiah up himself.

“Harry!” Ron cried out urgently.

“Lily!” Hermione added, but received no answer. Her attempts to revive Jeremiah only succeeded in making him fall over. This brought their attention to the fact that he was now laying on something they couldn't see.

Hermione quickly accepted the fact that Jeremiah was clearly dead and rather roughly pushed him until he was no longer laying on the thing they couldn't see. This action also revealed – by Jeremiah getting caught on the cloak and dragging it with him – two small feet.

“Lily!” Hermione roared in alarm, yanking the cloak off the girl in a half panicked haste. “Oh God! … I think she's alive!” She then deduced that Lily was under a Petrificus and cast the spell to end it.

Sure enough, Lily gasped out in relief and sat up. Then she burst into tears and buried her face in Hermione's bosom. “ _Daddy_ !” She wailed. Try as they might, they couldn't get anything coherent out of her until she calmed down a while later. Part of the problem was that whenever she tried to take deep breaths and calm herself, she'd open her eyes and see Jeremiah and start crying all over again.

Eventually, Hermione gave her a couple of calming drops and she told them what had happened. By this point, Ron had taken the time to search the house for clues, and then Floo to the local Auror office. Thus, Aurors were there to hear first hand – and to their great horror – the account of how Harry Potter had been abducted from his home just after his husband had been murdered.

Eventually, the Aurors had no choice but to release Lily into Ron and Hermione's custody since Hermione held a – magically verified – statement written by Harry insisting that his best friends have temporary custody of his daughter should something like this ever happen.

They stayed in America for a week, simultaneously trying to comfort Lily and help the local Aurors search for Harry, but the trail had gone cold surprisingly quickly, and there was no trace of him. Not even the fact that Hermione had things of Harry's – such as his hair, which he always vanished from his brush but had given a lock to her for emergencies – could help her find him.

Very quickly, the Aurors declared that based on other such cases, the chances were very high that Harry was dead, which would explain why all of Hermione's attempts to find him failed. Hermione refused to believe such a thing, insisting that she would most definitely find his body if he was dead, and thus he must be alive somewhere behind powerful wards.

“More likely dead behind some powerful wards,” an Auror informed her sadly.

In frustration and needing to do research and gather useful supplies, Hermione insisted that she and her husband take Lily back to England for the time being.

 

***

 

“What am I doing here?” Draco asked in confusion the moment he stepped into the office and found practically every Weasley alive sitting at a long table with a handful of legal experts. Based on the age of the experts alone, Draco assumed that they had to be the partners who owned the firm.

“Please have a seat, Mr. Malfoy,” one of the elderly men invited in a tone that wouldn't allow for any arguments.

“Er...” Draco droned warily as he obeyed and sank into the only empty chair – which was luckily right inside the door to the office. His gaze was drawn to the only child in the room, a little girl who was wearing all black to the point that a thick veil covered her hair and almost looked like she was wearing the habit of a muggle nun. This provoked deep curiosity in him. There was maybe one full second in which she looked up and there was a matching flicker of curiosity in her red rimmed green eyes.

“Now that we're all here,” the elderly man began. “I can proceed with the reading of the will.”

“Wait,” Draco blurted out in confusion. “Will? Whose will?”

The man simply rolled his eyes before picking up a standard thick and creamy parchment used for legal documents that were shorter and thus didn't need a full scroll. “I, Harry James Potter – being of sound mind – hereby–”

“Wait!” Draco cried out again, this time in obvious alarm. “Potter's _dead_?!” The little girl burst into sobs which Molly Weasley promptly tried to soothe with a warm hug.

“That's up for debate,” Hermione answered in a very solemn voice. “He's been declared dead, but I have my doubts.”

“That's all well and good, Mrs. Weasley,” the elderly man stated in a firm voice that tried to convey just a hint of sympathy. “But from a legal standpoint, he's been declared dead and we need to proceed.”

Hermione nodded and gestured for him to get on with it.

“Where was I, oh yes. I, Harry James Potter – being of sound mind – hereby attest before my lawyer and witnessed by Ron and Hermione Weasley, that this is my last will and testament should the worst happen... Hmm... this was filed almost ten years ago. Did Mr. Potter have anything more current?”

Hermione shook her head. “Not unless he made a new will after marrying Jeremiah, but if he did, I've haven't been able to find it, and Jeremiah's dead, so...”

“Did this Jeremiah have a will?” Because if there was one and it conflicted with Harry's that could cause legal problems.

Hermione shrugged. “He was a muggle, so if he did, I am not sure that it would be valid in our community.”

The elderly man tilted his head to the side and shrugged to sort of half admit that she was right.

Lily cleared her throat. “No,” she whispered faintly. “Daddy... well, they didn't think they needed a new will because daddy said...” she choked back a sob. “Daddy said... he already had one that would take care of me no matter what.”

“Ah.” After a quick shrug, the reading was resumed. “In the event that I die before my daughter comes of age,” he paused to look at Draco, who had gasped at this. Despite the girl referring to her father and his will, Draco had assumed that she was referring to the muggle. He pressed his lips together, so the reading resumed. “I want her to be raised by her other father, Draco Malfoy.”

All of the Weasleys around the long rectangular table flinched and cast Draco apologetic looks. Had they had any idea that Harry had written that, they might have tried to warn him. As it was, Draco was reeling in shock and swaying slightly in his chair as he stared at the man he assumed was the head partner of the firm.

“Wha...?” Draco managed to choke out a moment later.

The head partner assumed that Draco merely hadn't expected to be granted custody of his daughter, and so continued. “I leave most of my possessions to my daughter, Lily Anna Potter, but I want my fortune to be split up equally amongst her and the rest of my family, by which I mean the Weasleys.” The reading went on to list a few specific items that Harry wished to give to various Weasleys, but other than that, it was done.

Draco was now staring in horrified fascination at the little girl – who actually had Draco's face, pale skin, pointy features, and was tall for her age. He suspected that the black veil might even be hiding white blonde hair. In return, Lily was staring at Draco with a mix of curiosity and distrust. The entire room fell silent for over a full minute, which drew his attention to Hermione once more.

“When... _how_?” Draco asked, stumbling over his words.

Hermione pressed her lips together for a moment as if refusing to answer, but then sighed. “He's fairly certain that it happened the day you left. Harry had taken what he thought was a headache potion, but when he turned up pregnant, he admitted that he'd not been paying attention to the potion and thus it must have actually been a fertility potion.”

Draco was still swaying slightly and pressed a hand to his head. “ _Why_ didn't he ever tell me...?”

Ron scoffed and then sneered. “And  _when_ – exactly – was he supposed to do that, considering that you cut off all methods of communication and refused to even read his owls.”

Draco visibly flinched, which was a very telling sign of just how flustered he was. At this point in his life, he was so well practiced at hiding all of his emotions and any signs of weakness that he was very often mistaken for his father when out in public.

“Wait,” Lily demanded softly, finding her voice. “You mean to say that daddy was actually my mother and _this_ is my father?”

“Yes,” Molly assured her, stroking Lily's head soothingly. “When Harry was pregnant with you, he was so depressed that he nearly let himself die from not eating or drinking properly. He was more or less forced to provide you with nourishment by St. Mungo's until you were big enough that you could survive if you were born, and then we kept an eye on him around the clock until he went into labor. Please understand, my darling, that it's not that your daddy didn't love you, he was simply in a very bad state of mind. He had to talk with Mind Healers and it took a little more than three years for him to wake up and move on. _You_ , my love, were the biggest part of why he finally decided to live again. He took you to America where you've been living these last ten years.”

“Where we were so happy!” Lily burst out, her sobs returning. “I miss my daddy so much!”

“I know, love,” Molly murmured.

This was the last straw that made Hermione finally break down. She flung her head onto her arms which were resting in front of her on the table, and released all the desperate sobs that she had been holding back. Ron tried his best to comfort her, but lost the battle when he rested his head on her back and cried as well. Molly was beside herself with the inability to comfort more than one person at a time – especially since she was lightly crying herself. Arthur stoically took over the role of support for his youngest son; patting the couple on their backs and humming very soothingly.

“I'll be back in a minute,” Draco stated hastily as he leapt to his feet and fled the room. No one commented when he returned a good ten minutes later with slightly red eyes.

“Mr. Malfoy, if you would kindly take your daughter home, I think she's had quite enough trauma for one day.”

This prompted all eyes to land on the old man in alarm.

“We _can't_ just abandon Lily to Ferr – er – Malfoy!” Ron roared.

Hermione still had tears flowing from her eyes, but they were silent. “We have no choice,” she whispered.

“I don't want to go! I don't know this man!” Lily protested.

Draco sighed and rubbed his throbbing temples. “Look, Granger – er, Weasley,” he sighed again. “Hermione. I can understand how hard it would be to suddenly be thrust upon a complete stranger, so how about this? You come with the girl, er, Lily, and stay for tonight. We can talk more about how this will work, and – I suspect – arrange for joint custody of... my daughter...” that last word came out slightly choked sounding.

Hermione reached out and took hold of Lily's hand. “What do you think?”

“The child's opinion is irrelevant, from a legal standpoint,” the elderly man reminded them.

Lily sighed and squeezed Hermione's hand as tightly as she could – which was saying something as the girl was quite strong for her age. “I... I suppose that would be acceptable, if you promise to stay with me at all times.”

“Of course, my love,” Hermione assured her. She then looked up at Draco. “Thank you for being so understanding.”

Draco simply nodded, looking away to hide the fact that his eyes were stinging again.

 

***

 

Lily's eyes were wide as saucers as she looked around her surroundings. This  _house_ was bigger than a lot of apartment buildings she'd seen! It was lavishly yet tastefully decorated with many a priceless artifact that had probably been in the family for centuries. If Lily hadn't already been told that this man was her father and  _had_ to take care of her, she'd be more than a little afraid that he'd throw her out for being rather common compared to him.

Hermione couldn't help but exhale in relief when they joined the rest of the Malfoy family in a cozy “little” parlor that was nowhere near the drawing room she'd been tortured in. Draco paused just inside the door to the parlor to give her a tiny look of sympathy. Then he stepped forward and swept a hand out to indicate his family – who were now all watching him curiously.

“Lily, this is my mother and father, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy; my wife, Astoria, and my son, Scorpius.” Draco took a deep breath even as Lily slowly removed the heavy veil from her head simply because wearing it was getting rather hot in this room that was kept the perfect temperature by powerful magic. “Everyone, this is... my daughter, Lily Anna Potter, and yes, I had this fact verified by not only the Head of a prestigious law firm, but also by casting the blood test myself.”

If Draco himself were not still absolutely reeling from the shock of this news, he might well have chuckled at the various gobsmacked expressions on his parents and wife's faces. Only Scorpius obviously didn't fully understand the implications of this announcement. He scrunched his seven year old face up in confusion for a moment.

“Wait... wouldn't that make her my sister?” He asked, tilting his head to the side with an expression that made it clear he couldn't quite wrap his head around the concept.

“I have a brother...?” Lily exhaled reverently. The siblings stared at each other in fascination while the rest of the people in the room goggled over how much the two looked alike. Aside from the fact that one was definitely older and feminine, they looked like they could be twins. The only other pronounced difference between them was the fact that Lily had vibrant green eyes and Scorpius had soft gray eyes.

“Draco...?” Narcissa questioned faintly.

“It seems that... Harry... left me custody of... _our daughter_... in his will...” Draco explained, still having a hard time believing it even as he had to say it out loud.

“Harry Potter is dead?” Narcissa asked in a tone that carried both sadness and disbelief.

“Legally,” Draco stated with an oppressive heaviness in his heart.

“He was taken from me,” Lily explained softly. Hermione had given her a calming drop to help ensure that she didn't panic when faced with a room full of potentially hostile strangers. Thus, she was able to talk about it. “He sensed something was wrong and cast a spell so that I couldn't move before covering me with his invisibility cloak. Seven men burst in and... Daddy was amazing. He defended himself from everything they threw at him. I think he was even winning, but then they...” 

Her breath caught and she hiccuped and sniffed before wiping her nose on a handkerchief she had been more or less clutching for several days now. “They  _killed_ Jeremiah.” She paused before pointing at the floor as if she saw Jeremiah laying right there. “Avada Kedavra,” she whispered, then cleared her throat. “He was trying to protect me, so he died right on top of me. I saw the light leave his eyes, but he had told me he loved me. I think he knew something bad might happen.”

She paused again to blow her nose and wipe her eyes. “Then daddy went a bit crazy and they were able to knock him out and take him away. And I'm never going to see him again!” That wail was immediately followed by Lily flinging herself into Hermione's arms.

“Oh love,” Hermione murmured, stroking her hair. She got on her knees and looked up into Lily's eyes. “Please don't give up yet. I promise you that I will not rest until I have found him. I will move heaven and earth, look under every rock, and even swim to the bottom of the ocean if I have to.”

Lily wiped her eyes ineffectually. “I didn't get to tell either of them that I love them!”

Hermione hugged her. “They knew. They  _know_ !”

Draco cleared his throat. “Muffy.” A female house elf appeared. She was rather pretty and wore a faded blue pillowcase like it was a roman toga. “Please escort Lily and Hermione to the Blue Room.” He then focused on Hermione. “I think it might be best if Lily had some quiet time. Feel free to ask for anything at all and Muffy will bring it to you.”

“Thank you,” Hermione murmured, getting to her feet again.

When Lily and Hermione were out of the room, Draco took hold of his wife's hand and kissed it. “I'm going to be in the Crystal Room. Please bring me a hangover potion about ten minutes before breakfast is served tomorrow.”

“Of course,” Astoria murmured in sympathy.

“Is papa sad?” Scorpius asked in astonishment when Draco was out of the room. He'd never seen his father noticeably emotional before.

“Yes,” Narcissa murmured. “Although he has never admitted it to me in words, I am certain that your father loved Mr. Potter very much. The news that he not only died but had a daughter he never told your father about must be quite distressing.”

“Oh...” Scorpius murmured.

 

***

 

Hermione stayed with Lily for a few days, until she felt comfortable staying with the Malfoys on her own. Then Hermione left to conduct her research. She planned to gather up the most powerful location magic on the planet and use it to hunt Harry down.

But before she and Ron could leave – having arranged for their parents to take turns watching their kids – Molly had organized a memorial service for Harry. As much as everyone wanted to believe that Harry was still alive out there somewhere, the unfortunate fact was that it just wasn't very likely. He had been declared dead because someone who had been abducted and was missing for even just a week (though it had been more than two weeks by this point) – someone who couldn't be found using powerful Auror detection or tracking spells, well... it almost always turned out that they'd been killed within the first 48 hours.

Thus they all had a need to mourn his loss. Thankfully, his supposed death hadn't been reported on in the papers yet, and so the service wasn't crashed by unwanted reporters or adoring fans. So it was that Draco Apparated onto the property surrounding the Burrow with Lily in tow. His wife arrived a second later with their son, followed by Narcissa. It had been agreed that Lucius – although he was inclined to pay his respects to Harry – probably wouldn't be welcome considering everything that had happened, so he stayed home.

The memorial service was well attended by Harry's actual friends, which comprised of all the Weasleys and almost everyone who had ever been a part of the DA when he taught it. Plus Minerva McGonagall, Rubeus Hagrid, and a few other professors. Lily wore a sleek black dress that Narcissa and Astoria had helped her pick out at the most fashionable shop in Diagon Alley.

With no  _body_ to commune with, the atmosphere was sad but slightly hopeful. Rather than sit around crying, they all gathered around a few long tables arranged into a square so that they could talk to each other while eating the feast Molly had made. Each person took a turn telling a story about Harry – often something funny. It helped Lily a lot to hear the stories, all things she didn't know because Harry had never really talked about his past.

When it was Lily's turn, she put on a tiny smile and stood up so that everyone could see her better. “As I understand it, daddy didn't really keep in touch with anyone when he moved us to America. Aside from Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione – and grandma and grandpa,” she pointed to Arthur and Molly. She looked around curiously, wondering how her father could have stopped talking to so many people who clearly loved him and remembered him fondly. 

After a breath, she continued. “I don't really know why. As I've learned over the past few days, he kept a lot from me, and because he was usually so honest with me, I never expected him to be hiding such big secrets – like the fact that he is famous for defeating a very bad man. So I can't explain why he didn't want to write to all of you at the very least.”

She paused to take a sip of water. “What I  _can_ tell you is that he was so very happy. When we first moved to America, we traveled the country, never stopping. One day, he took me to see a show performed by the Cirque du Soleil – which is a very famous performing circus that I'm not sure any of you will have heard of considering the strange separation between the wizarding and muggle worlds. Anyway, I fell in love. It's the only thing I would talk about until daddy moved us permanently to St. Paul, Minnesota so that I could go to Circus Juventas – a school that teaches kids to be part of the circus. I started school there just before my seventh birthday and in just a few short weeks, it was obvious to everyone that I had found where I belong.

“At the same time, one of my teachers quickly took a liking to daddy. They were friends for a while, and then _special friends_ for a few years before finally admitting that they belonged together and got married. Daddy and Jeremiah loved each other so very much. It would have been their fifth anniversary soon and Jeremiah wanted us to go to the Bahamas to explore the Bimini Road to celebrate – before my next tour with Cirque du Soleil started.”

Lily smiled as her eyes went far away. “The moment I got accepted into Cirque, Jeremiah quit his teaching job so that the three of us could stay together as a family while we traveled the country. Every day felt like the best day ever. We always had so much fun! So... If you all love my daddy and just wanted him to be happy, please know that he was.”

Lily pointed at a rope that had been strung up between two trees about 20 feet off the ground. “I realize that none of you may understand this, but  _I need_ to say goodbye to him with a special performance.”

Before anyone could really respond to her statement – and honestly, almost everyone was teary eyed by this point – Lily stood up and cast a spell (that she secretly used when making costumes changes all the time) to magic her sleek black dress off to reveal the shiny, black, full body leotard underneath. Only her feet, hands, neck, and head were uncovered. 

Rather abruptly, she performed a series of flips that gave her the momentum to launch herself at one of the trees just right so that she could use it to leap up to the rope, swing around it a couple of times, and then sit on it for a moment as she took out her wand and pointed it the various instruments that had been set up in the trees for her.

She wasn't paying attention to them, otherwise she would have seen the looks of surprise and shock on almost everyone's face. Only Ron, Hermione, George, Arthur, and Molly had ever seen her perform before and knew what to expect. Considering that every single person attending the memorial was part of the wizarding world – muggleborn and pureblood alike – and thus used to seeing amazing magical feats on a regular basis, it was actually funny that they were all amazed by her muggle talents.

The magicked instruments instantly began to play a soft and flowy song.

“ _I pray you'll be our eyes, and watch us where we go, and help us to be wise, in times when we don't know_.” 

As Lily sang, she walked across the rope rather simply at first. Then she began a very basic dance.

“ _Let this be our prayer, as we go our way, lead us to a place, guide us with your grace, to a place where we'll be safe_.”

As the lyrics got a lot more complicated by switching to both Italian and English – meant to be a duet that she was performing on her own – Lily flowed into acrobatics that almost looked like she was doing Tai Chi on the rope. The flow included a very slow cartwheel and the splits.

The English lyrics simply repeated what the Italian ones did, so she didn't feel like no one would be able to understand the song. Her favorite part was this:

“ _We ask that life be kind, and watch us from above, we hope each soul will find, another soul to love._ ”

When she was done, she stood perfectly balanced on the center of the rope and faced the sky. “Daddy, if you  _are_ already dead, I hope that you and Jeremiah will be happy together in heaven.”

Then she took a deep breath in and exhaled it all out. She was ready to stop being so sad and looked down at her audience for the first time. A smile of something very close to pure joy stretched across her face.

“This next dance was daddy's absolute favorite!”

Once again, the beginning was slow and flowy, but then it rather abruptly picked up. Lily hopped and bounced as she sang (having cast a spell on the instruments to make them play the correct music), performing near constant flashy tricks. She was completely in her element, and utterly oblivious to Draco's gasp of sudden and unexpected fear for his daughter. Twenty feet might not seem like such a bad fall, but she didn't even have any sort of safety net – that he could see.

“ _I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky, like a tiger defying the laws of gravity, I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva, I'm gonna go go go, there's no stopping me_!”

In order to do all the tricks as she sang, Lily had to really focus on her breathing. In this way, everything else faded. There were no thoughts of her father or her current situation. For the three and a half minutes that she was performing, she was nothing but a talented body and a voice. She felt completely free.

“ _Don't stop me now, I'm having such a good time, I'm having a ball, don't stop me now, if you wanna have a good time, just give me a call, don't stop me now ('cause I'm having a good time), don't stop me now (yes I'm havin' a good time), I don't want to stop at all_!”

As the song drew to a close, she finished her seriously energetic moves to perform softer moves.

“ _La da da da daah, da da da haa, ha da da ha ha haaa, ha da daa ha da da aaa, ooo ooo ooo_...”

As the last notes of the song faded, she sat down on the rope to simply breathe. She felt at peace and knew that she must look it.

“I feel better now,” she informed everyone. “I'd love it if you all told me more about my dad as he grew up.”

“Can you, er, can you come down from there?” Draco asked, still clearly nervous that she was about to fall at any moment.

“Of course,” Lily acquiesced. She rolled until she was dangling from the rope by her hands, and then swung back and forth until she had the momentum to let go of the rope, flip twice, and land on the ground with an artistic flourish.

Draco had pulled out his wand in case he needed to catch her, and exhaled in relief that she didn't break her leg. Hermione wasn't the only person who smirked because it was adorable how Draco – who was still very much a cold-hearted Slytherin – clearly fretted over his new daughter. George and Ron were tempted to heckle the pointy git, but decided against it solely because they didn't want to provoke him into taking Lily and leaving the memorial early.

Neville cleared his throat and smiled at Lily. “Let me tell you about the time Harry summoned his broom and used it to fly circles around a dragon.

“I'd like that,” Lily replied with a soft but genuine smile.

 

***

 

“I will not go to Hogwarts!” Lily shouted at the top of her lungs.

“You should already have been in Hogwarts for two years now,” Draco stated firmly, trying to make it clear that she didn't really have a choice in the matter.

“Why?” Lily asked with a dark glare. She absently stroked what Draco had nearly found out the hard way was a highly venomous snake around her neck. Its name was Sunshine and usually looked like a thick gold necklace, unless she stroked it – like now – or talked to it in parseltongue. Then it moved about, often lifting its head to give her kisses. “I've never had trouble learning my magic from books in the past, so why should I go to a boring and stuffy old school when I'm _supposed_ to be going on tour starting September 7 th!”

“There's no way that I am going to let you go on tour all by yourself!” Draco argued, his voiced raised just a little. Then he held his breath in an effort to calm down. He was not used to having to argue with and yell at his child – as Scorpius tended to do what he was told in exchange for receiving almost everything he could ever want.

“I wouldn't be by myself!” Lily protested. “I'd be with the entire cast! Not to mention my manager!”

“That's not good enough! Not even Harry let you go on tour by yourself!” Draco was disconcerted to realize that he was actually yelling now and couldn't seem to stop himself.

“I will not go!” Lily roared emphatically. “And you're not making any sense! Why do you have a problem with me going on tour when you just want to send me away to your stupid school?! Either way, you'll be rid of me!”

Draco roared in frustration and pulled on his hair with both hands. “It's not that I  _want_ to get rid of you, it's that you're  _supposed_ to be in school!”

“Why?!” Lily demanded.

“That's just the way it is!” Draco shouted, throwing his hands out in front of him.

“Why?!?!” Lily repeated with even more emphasis.

“Because you need a proper education!”

“ _Why_?!”

“Because that's the way life works!”

“ _ **Why**_?!?!” Lily ground out.

“ _I don't know_!” Draco finally admitted in extreme frustration.

“You can't just tell me not to _do my job_ because you want me to go to school for _no reason_ ,” Lily pointed out rather loudly. “In a cast of over thirty performers, I am in the top ten! I earn more money from each show than you probably earn each month in interest on your fortune! I need you to explain to me why exactly I have to give up the love of my life – my _job_ that I trained for _six years_ to obtain – just so I can go to a school and get an education _I don't want or need_ that doesn't help me do my job in the slightest! And so help me, if you _dare_ say that it's so I can get a decent job when I grow up, I will order Sunshine to bite you!”

“Malfoys don't have jobs,” Draco informed her with a dismissive wave of his hand. His voice was as calm and controlled as he could make it at the moment. He took a deep breath. “I don't know how to answer you at the moment. I need to think this over.” His eyes narrowed. “But I can tell you that the reason that I won't let you go on tour by yourself is because your so-called _job_ is highly dangerous and I don't know or trust the people you work with.”

Lily gave Draco a rather shrewd look and managed to speak civilly. “So... if Malfoys don't have jobs, why can't you just come with me on tour?”

“Er...” Draco was tempted to tug on his hair again. _How in Merlin's raunchy hole is a 13 year old girl managing to argue circles around me? She hasn't even been sorted into Slytherin and had an opportunity to learn the fine art of business negotiation from her house mates!_ “I can't just leave my son to go traipsing around the world with you.”

“So bring him with!” Lily cried out in desperation.

“What sort of life is that for a child?” Draco asked in confusion.

Lily glared at him so coldly that Draco nearly shivered. With a soft growl, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and spun around so that she could march out of the room. He honestly had no idea whether he should go after her or give her some time alone.

He turned to look at his wife and parents, thankful that Scorpius was currently flying his broom in the backyard and hadn't witnessed Lily being so blatantly defiant. They all looked rather speculative. With a heavy sigh, Draco sat at the table so that he could drink a spot of tea.

“I have no idea how I'm going to convince her to get on the Hogwarts Express come September First,” he admitted.

“It's clear that you need to be firm with her,” Lucius advised. “Let her know that she must do as is expected of her.”

“Hmm...” Narcissa hummed in thought. “Perhaps she has a point. Harry obviously didn't insist that she go to Hogwarts, so maybe he knew what he was doing.”

Lucius snorted with a hint of derision. “He obviously had no idea how to handle his atrociously willful child.”

Narcissa was tempted to roll her eyes, but basically ignored him instead. “Perhaps you should consult with Mr and Mrs Weasley – the younger ones who have been by Harry's side his whole life. You did offer a sort of shared custody to them, so it makes some sense that they would have some input on the subject.”

“They left to try to find Harry, remember?” Draco pointed out. “I have no idea how I'd find them to ask their opinion.”

“We still have a bit of time to think, so I suggest that we avoid rushing into any decisions,” Narcissa murmured.

“I agree,” Astoria added, taking a sip of her tea. “I'm trying to imagine myself in Lily's position and all I keep thinking is that she has had literally everything in her life stripped from her in a matter of days. She's probably desperate to have just one thing stay the same. If it were me, I think I'd need to do at least one more of those tours she talks about, just to feel like I still had some control over my life, and then when I feel like I'm on solid ground again, _that's_ when I'd be open to considering letting go of that last thing.”

Draco sighed. “It's clear that I have much to think about.”

“Yes,” his mother and wife agreed in unison as his father harrumphed softly.

 

***

 

“ _Please_ don't make me do this!” Lily wailed, tears pouring down her cheeks almost as hard as they had when her father was taken and Jeremiah killed.

“You need to go to Hogwarts,” Draco repeated patiently, having decided that this was the only course of action that made any sense. He was currently packing up her new trunk since she refused to do it herself.

“If you don't want me here so badly, just let me go back to America,” Lily begged. “I'll be well taken care of by my manager.”

“Lily...” Draco sighed, feeling his heart wrench painfully at her words. “I adore you and would love nothing more than for you to stay here, but unfortunately, life just does not work that way. I have to let you go, and you have to go to school.”

Lily had gone through every argument she could with no success, so she knew there was nothing she could say to change his mind. Feeling almost swallowed by a black abyss of depression, she flung herself to the floor and sobbed. Draco was torn between comforting her – which would require capitulating to her demands at least a little – and simply waiting her tantrum out.

Narcissa came into the room about a half an hour later to find Draco wringing his hands and pacing while Lily sobbed into the plush carpet. “Oh dear,” she murmured as she beckoned Draco over to her so she could whisper in his ear. “Perhaps we should try things her way.  _I'll_ go with her on tour.”

“Mother, if we give into her demands now, she'll simply keep using the same tactics to get her way until she's too old to go to Hogwarts,” Draco pointed out.

Narcissa rubbed her hand up and down Draco's arm a couple of times. “Oh my darling boy. Take it from a parent who has never wanted anything other than for you to be happy but ended up making far too many mistakes. You nearly died fighting a war that wouldn't have made anyone happy had we won it. Even now, I think that on your best day, you are merely content. Why  _can't_ we let dearest Lily follow her heart? The worst thing that can happen is that she has a fatal accident and dies happy, doing what she loves. Is that really so bad? When the alternative is living in utter misery?”

Draco was rapidly feeling an overwhelming urge to cry. He was beyond frustrated that his mother was trying to subvert the decision he'd made based on what he really felt was the best thing for Lily in the long run. “Of course I want her happy! She'll be happy at Hogwarts!”

Narcissa purred in sympathy and gestured to her granddaughter. “Take a good look at her. Do you really think that she is going to be happy there any time soon?”

“Yes, if she just gives it a chance,” Draco answered with utter conviction.

“Well... I hope you're right,” Narcissa murmured a bit sadly, feeling like her son was making a huge mistake.

A silvery otter burst into existence next to Lily. “Lily!” It gasped out in Hermione's voice. “I'm coming to –”

But before the Patronus could finish telling them what Hermione was about to do, the wards around the Manor completely shattered, which also dispelled the Patronus. Draco and Narcissa both felt their blood run cold. If the same group of men were after Lily and had somehow managed to break into the Manor, all six of them might well be in mortal danger!

But then a man Apparated into the room before they had time to think about what to do. They hadn't even had time to fully draw their wands!

“Lily!” He gasped out before collapsing onto the floor next to her.

“Daddy!” Lily gasped out in a strange combination of pure joy and dismay. She was beyond elated to have her father back, but also terrified to see him looking to thoroughly abused. She didn't even try to roll him over, simply pressed her cheek to his naked and bloodied back and wrapped her arms around him. “Daddy, daddy, daddy...” she repeated over and over – as if it was a magic spell that was guaranteed to keep him alive.

“Lily...” Harry exhaled very softly in relief before passing out.

Hermione appeared a moment later. “So he did come here!” She turned to find Draco and Narcissa too shocked to move as they stared at Harry. “I'll be back with some healers. I'm sorry, but I think that at this point, Harry's too critical to be moved.”

Draco just barely managed to nod in understanding before Hermione Disapparated.

 

***

 

Harry was unconscious for three days, during which time, Draco didn't have the heart to tear Lily from his side. Thus, she didn't go to Hogwarts after all. In fact, she really didn't move much at all, aside from shifting from a chair at Harry's bedside to actually in bed with him when she need to rest. The only other thing she did was go outside and stretch for about ten minutes every couple of hours.

Draco wasn't the only one who was half hovering in the background. He was rather disconcerted to find that he had developed a habit of pacing almost nonstop. Thankfully, his constant motion didn't prevent him from hearing Hermione speak.

“I didn't find him, so I have no idea where he was or what happened to him,” Hermione explained. “All I know is that we were using his house in Minnesota as a base of operations, when suddenly, he Apparated right next to me and nearly killed me with a heart attack!”

Hermione cast a fond smile at Harry before growing sad once more. “He demanded to know where Lily was, and when I told him that she was here – as I was casting a Patronus Charm to let her know I was coming to get her – he simply Disapparated. I think he somehow managed to make the trip in one jump!”

Which was technically impossible. Harry should have drowned in the ocean long before he reached England, let alone Wiltshire! Draco didn't really know what to say to this, so he remained silent. He continued his pacing, his thoughts racing around in circles and his heart alternating between thundering and stopping for worrying amounts of time.

“Lily,” Harry croaked out softly.

Lily immediately leapt from the chair into the bed. She brushed some of his messy hair out of his face. “Daddy!”

“Lily... Alive?” Harry managed to ask, his eyes trying to focus on her without his glasses.

“Yes daddy,” she assured him as she pressed kisses to his hand that she clutched.

“They said...” he trailed off, looking haunted.

Lily – despite not knowing a lot of things about her father's past – really did know him better than almost anyone, and so she finished his sentence. “They said they'd killed me, and that made you go crazy and... escape...”

Draco had to wonder if Lily knew that it sounded like she was referring to things a lot more violent than simply escaping. He'd like to think that she was too innocent to think of such things. He'd also like to think that she  _didn't_ think that her father was capable of such things, but the man  _had_ defeated the Dark Lord, after all. Maybe she'd spent the last few weeks praying that his magic would go out of control and rescue him – no matter  _how_ that played out.

“Yeah...” Harry whispered in confirmation.

“The Healers said that you had been abused terribly, and they managed to heal most of the damage,” Lily informed him. “Some of it will take a long time to fully heal, and your magical core is almost completely drained. They're not sure how long it will take to recover, and until it recovers at least a little, you won't be able to do _any_ spells.”

“Not... important...” Harry replied weakly. “Only you.” He reached up to brush his hand along her cheek before it fell back onto the bed.

“Jeremiah...” she whispered with tears in her eyes.

“I know...” Harry admitted, and then looked away from her and squeezed his eyes shut. He slept for a while longer, but even Lily could tell that this sleep was lighter than the near coma he had been in for three days.

 

***

 

The next morning, Harry woke to find that Hermione, Ron, and Draco were sitting around his bed. Lily was asleep, laying in bed with him, her head resting on his chest. He sighed in relief and stroked her hair softly so that he didn't wake her.

“Harry,” Hermione murmured, also sounding very relieved.

“You thought I was dead?” Harry stated more than asked. He couldn't be sure exactly how long he had been gone, but he was sure that it was long enough that most people would have assumed that he's been tortured to death long since.

“Not for a moment!” Hermione assured him. “But they declared you dead when the chances of you still being alive became unlikely. I think they rushed the decision because they knew you had an underage daughter that needed to be cared for.”

“We tried to tell them that there was no way you'd die so easily,” Ron added, patting Harry on the shoulder even as Hermione was now clutching his hand. “Being Harry Potter and all.” This was an attempt to lighten the mood. Harry smiled softly.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Comes in handy from time to time.”

Draco looked at each one of the Golden Trio for a moment and realized that they were all thinking that Harry wouldn't have even been in that situation in the first place if he wasn't Harry Potter. However, not one said that out loud. Ron handed Harry his glasses, which Harry put on. He was noticeably stronger than he had been when he woke up briefly yesterday.

Harry focused on Draco with an inscrutable expression. “Draco,” he stated in greeting. It wasn't friendly, but it wasn't hostile either.

“Harry...” Draco replied softly, ashamed to realize that the single word had somehow betrayed how emotional he was at the moment.

“I, er...” Harry fumbled before scratching the back of his neck with the hand not trapped under Lily. “I'm sorry you had to find out about her like this.”

Draco shrugged and took the time to suppress all emotion before replying. “Well, I'm actually more sorry that  _she_ had to go through all of this, so...” He shrugged again, not really sure what to say.

They were all silent for a good minute before Lily started, sitting up rather abruptly. She looked down at her father with a relieved smile. “Daddy, you're awake!”

“So I am,” Harry agreed with a soft smile.

“Morning,” she murmured.

“Morning,” he returned.

“I bet you're hungry,” Lily stated. “I can ask Muffy to bring us some breakfast, and then we can go home.”

Harry frowned a little. “I'm not sure I'll be able to go home...”

“Jeremiah...” Lily whispered in understanding.

Harry nodded.

Lily shrugged. “Well, there's only three days until my next tour starts. We can just meet up with Cirque and email a real estate agent to put our house up for sale.”

Harry smiled. “That sounds like a pretty smart idea.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I can also firecall my Mind Healer and work through my trauma. I really think that focusing on the things that are the same as always will help me.”

“I hope so,” Lily whispered, looking haunted as she remembered how her father had looked when he appeared next to her. For many long minutes, she'd really thought that she had gotten him back just to lose him all over again.

“Wait...” Draco protested with a faint frown. “You can't just take her away from me.”

Lily literally hissed at him. Then she spat out: “What do you care?! You were trying to force me to go to  _Hogwarts_ !” She said that like the name of the school was the most vile swear word imaginable. 

Draco flinched, and then sighed. “It's  _not_ that I don't care, Lily, it's that I truly believe that you are meant to be in school.”

“ _Well I'm not_!” Lily protested hotly.

Harry sighed and stroked a hand down her back. “Obviously we have to talk about everything that has changed.”

Lily burst into tears and buried her face in Harry's chest. “Daddy, please don't make me stay here!  _I hate it here_ !”

Draco felt his heart wrench painfully and couldn't stop himself from pressing a hand to his chest. Harry noticed this and had to seriously wonder what had happened in the last couple of weeks that his usually happy and energetic daughter was miserable and seemed to loathe her other father. Well, aside from the obvious, but Harry didn't think that even if he had died, she'd let that keep her down for long.

“Draco,” Harry said before either he or Lily could say anything else. “I really think that we are going to need to take this slowly. Let me and Lily get back to normal and recover from what happened. Then we'll be able to work on building up a solid relationship with you.”

Lily sniffed and wiped her nose. “And Scorpius. I have a brother...”

“You do?” Harry asked softly.

“He's pretty nice,” Lily admitted with a soft smile.

“Really?” Ron asked in disbelief. Draco cast a frosty glare in his direction.

Lily nodded. “Yeah, each night when I am trying but unable to sleep, he'll sneak in here for a bit to talk, play games, and make me feel like the world's not so bad after all.”

“He sounds like a good kid,” Harry observed.

Lily nodded in agreement.

“So you're not going to try to keep her from me?” Draco asked, his expression suggesting that he was getting ready to fight a battle if need be.

“No... I would never have kept her from you to begin with if you read any of my owls after you left. By the time I knew I'd drank the wrong potion and gotten pregnant, I'd given up and stopped trying,” Harry explained with a hand gesture that said: _what else can I say_?

Draco sighed heavily and wiped a hand over his face. “I'll admit that I handled that badly.” The prospect of Harry being dead had forced Draco to think over everything that had happened back then and – more importantly – how he felt about Harry. It had forced him to realize that he  _still_ very much loved Harry and thought about him all the time.

Hermione sensed that the two ex lovers  _really_ needed some time to talk in private, so she cleared her throat. “I think that Ron and I should go check on our kids and let everyone know that you've woken up.”

“Er, yeah,” Ron agreed hesitantly. The two of them gave Harry a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Love you,” Harry murmured.

“Love you too, mate,” Ron answered for the both of them.

“Bye Aunt 'Mione, bye Uncle Ron,” Lily stated with a wave. 

“See you later,” they assured her.

Once they were gone, Lily snuggled up to her father and simply held him tight. Harry stroked her hair to reassure her that he wasn't going anywhere. He also sighed a bit morosely.

“Listen, Draco, I –” 

But Draco cut him off rather abruptly by hugging him. “No matter what else we have to deal with, I'm glad you're not dead.” The hug lasted for a good half dozen seconds and was strong enough to practically squish Lily – who was sort of half between them – but then he pulled back just as abruptly when Harry patted his back comfortingly.

Harry smiled faintly and attempted to crack a joke. “I'm rather glad I'm not dead as well.”

Draco snorted softly. Then all of his emotions caught up with and overwhelmed him. He stood up. “If you'll excuse me, I have to, er... Please don't go anywhere until after we've had a chance to talk more.” He Apparated out of the room before Harry could even reply.

Lily look at the spot he had been curiously. “Do you suppose that he's going to go cry again?”

“Cry?” Harry asked in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Lily confirmed. “He goes somewhere private fairly often, and then when he comes back, his eyes are red and everyone pretends they don't notice.”

Harry stroked her back as he thought this over. “I didn't think he'd cry over me, but he is very much the type to hide his emotions, so it makes sense that he'd go hide somewhere if he was going to cry.”

“Daddy.. what happened between the two of you?”

With a heavy sigh, Harry took the time to figure out where he should start, and then explained as much to her as he could, only editing out the graphic sexual details that she didn't need to know. “Well, it all began when...”

 

***

 

During the course of the next year, Harry and Lily traveled with the Cirque du Soleil. Any time they had a bit of free time between performances, they'd take a Portkey to Malfoy Manor. At the same time, the Malfoys developed a habit of coming to visit her as a family every few weeks. Draco visited even more than that, bringing Scorpius with him when he visited every other weekend.

All in all, Lily accepted Draco in her life, but it took much longer than expected for things to feel normal again. This was mostly because – despite doing what she loved and was used to doing – they'd always had Jeremiah with them before and often turned around to tell him something or ask him a question, only to remember all over again that he was gone.

To Harry's surprise, he found that as he and his Mind Healer worked through his issues, he slowly started to feel all the same things he'd felt for Draco when they'd briefly lived together. Especially since the two of them had obviously grown up and learned how to get along without fighting. The thing that surprised Harry most of all was when he thought back and realized that he'd never truly stopped loving Draco, he'd simply pushed those feelings aside in order to move on with his life. Now that Draco was back in it, Harry was both hesitant and open to trying again.

Well, he would be open if Draco wasn't married. Harry understood that Draco and Astoria weren't a love match, he even picked up her subtle hints suggesting that she wouldn't mind if Draco had an affair with Harry, but no. Harry could not bring himself to be the person who tore apart their family. He didn't want to be the dirty little secret. He didn't think that would be fair to himself  _or_ Lily.

So it was that almost exactly a year and a half after Harry returned from the dead, he was utterly shocked when Draco sat down at the table in the Hotel room Harry shared with Lily and lay out a packet of papers.

“I'll divorce her if you want,” Draco stated with a tone that one might use to discuss the weather.

“What?” Harry asked in confusion as he glanced at the packet. Sure enough, they were divorce papers.

“I know that you won't even be willing to consider a relationship between us if I'm still married, so I'll divorce her,” Draco explained.

“But I don't want to tear your family apart!” Harry protested.

Draco sighed and took hold of Harry's left hand. “You won't be tearing us apart. Nothing will really change. She'll still live in the Manor and be Scorpius' mother. She won't even have to move to a new room because we haven't shared a bedroom since about a year after Scorpius was born. The only thing that will change – and I sense that this is the important part to you anyway – is that I will no longer be legally married to her, and thus, can openly be with you.”

Harry wanted to say that he'd have to think about it. He  _really_ wanted to be cautious and ask Hermione for advice on how to handle this situation. He probably should even take five minutes to consult with his Mind Healer on how much of his reactions to this were real and how much were the product of his trauma. But no...

“I'd like that,” Harry stated with a hopeful smile, referring to openly being with Draco.

With an unintentional sigh of relief, Draco smiled at Harry before giving him a tender kiss. Harry responded to the kiss, even deepening it for a moment, before pushing Draco away.

“I imagine that it will take some time for the divorce to finalize,” Harry stated. “Which means that we'll have plenty of time to talk about this. If we're going to have a relationship again, we're going to do it right.”

Draco gave him a tiny smile and a nod. “I agree.”

 

***

 

A few months later, the divorce was finalized. Astoria hadn't fought it at all, and Draco was generous with giving her whatever she wanted. This meant that the divorce happened rather quickly, which was just fine in Draco's opinion.

That night, Lily chuckled when she slid into the bed of the hotel room that she was now sharing with Scorpius. He looked over at her from the other bed. Curiosity was written all over his face.

“What?”

She grinned at him. “I'm just wondering if our dads really gave any thought to what we'd think about the fact that we each went from sharing a room with our dads, to suddenly sharing a room with each other. I mean, I think it would be really obvious what was happening even if we were much younger.”

Scorpius shrugged, not really willing to think about what was happening since he was only eight going on nine. “I suppose they simply assume that we think they love each other and that's that.”

Lily, at 14 going on 15, could stand to think a little more about the specifics, but not  _too_ much more because it involved her dads. She simply chuckled again, and then changed the subject.

“Goodnight, Scorpius. I'm off tomorrow, so I'll bring you to the gym and teach you how to use the Cyr Wheel.”

Scorpius smiled. If he were honest, he wasn't anywhere near as passionate about the circus arts as Lily was, but he certainly had a lot of fun doing some of the things with her. She taught him quite a bit, and since she always did things that Scorpius liked in return, he found that learning about her interests was actually a rather mutually beneficial arrangement.

“I'd like that, and then we can dance for a couple of hours,” Scorpius informed her.

“Yes we can,” Lily agreed with a grin. Then a thought struck her, making her look pensive. “Hey... do you think that our dads might give us another brother or sister?”

“Can I be honest with you?” Scorpius asked seriously.

“Of course!” Lily exclaimed in reassurance.

“I've always hated being an only child,” Scorpius confessed. Then he gave Lily a tiny smile. “That's why I always go out of my way to make sure you like me.”

“Oh Scorpius...” Lily purred in a tone that was both sympathetic and dismayed. She quickly slipped out of her bed and into his so that she could squish him in a strong hug. “You don't have to do that! We're brother and sister now no matter what!”

Scorpius opted not to say anything and simply return her hug. 

A few seconds passed before Lily snickered softly. “You know, as I understand it, Malfoys are traditionally sorted into Slytherin, where they are known for their ambition, cunning, and sneakiness.”

“Yeah?” Scorpius both stated in confirmation and asked where she was going with this.

“ _Well_... That makes us both at least half Slytherin, right?” Lily asked.

“I suppose it does,” Scorpius replied, still rather confused.

“ _So_ , if our dads haven't given us a baby brother or sister by this time next year, I say we slip them a fertility potion!” Lily suggested in a clearly gleeful tone.

Scorpius started laughing in a way that might have been called evil if the laugher had been an adult. “I love it! But why wait a year?”

Lily rolled her eyes. “We want to make sure that they'll get along first.”

Scorpius shook his head. “Nope! If we wait a year, then by the time the baby is born, I'll have to go to Hogwarts and won't get to spend time with him or her anyway. I say we do it now.”

Lily looked up at the ceiling and stroked her chin in thought. “ _Well_ ... I  _suppose_ I could look through my potions books and see what it would take to brew it. I might actually have to either check out an advanced potions book from a library or order one anonymously from Flourish and Blotts just to get the right potion though.”

Scorpius squealed happily and hugged her tight. “I can't wait!”

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is another one of those instances in which the idea that originally hit me ends up being far different from what I write because I just couldn't take it. In this, my original idea was to actually kill off Harry and write about how Draco and Lily have to learn to accept and love one another without him. Honestly, I *might* still do that in a completely separate fic because I have to wonder how that would play out, but I suck at writing angst and any emotion that lasts longer than five minutes, so it would be a definite challenge.  
> Anyway, because I just couldn't kill Harry (!!! :'''''( Harry can't die!), I brought him back, which allowed him to act as a buffer between Draco and Lily, but also, I'm just a sucker for HEA and they are my OTP :-)


End file.
